EXPERTISE
Tom Smith joined the Delaware Geological Survey in 1987. His major duties are comprised of both laboratory functions and field operations.
Mr. Smith is the laboratory supervisor, safety officer, and chemical hygiene officer for the DGS. One of his major laboratory specialties is the processing of core samples for fossil pollen. The analysis of the pollen is used to identify climates associated with sequence rock formation stratigraphy. Mr. Smith performs such standard laboratory operations as chemical analysis of water samples, x-ray diffraction, sediment analysis, and microscopy.
Mr. Smith is responsible for installing, maintaining, modifying, and repairing the various field instruments and communications links which are used to monitor Delaware's seismology, streams, aquifers, and rainfall. The DGS actively provides Delaware Emergency Management Agency officials with the facts necessary to make vital decisions. Telemetry, VHF radio, Delaware's microwave system, the internet, and occasionally SATCOM are used as communication links from field instrumentation to the DGS building on the University of Delaware campus.
EDUCATION
Pennsylvania State University, 1979, B.S., Earth Sciences
INVENTIONS
Means and Method for Scoring an Optical Fiber
March 15, 1988 U.S. Patent 4,730,763 (Sole Inventor)
Geological principles of stress fracture propagation analysis were applied to amorphous silica to induce high quality fiber end preparation without hackle or mist. More information about these principles can be explored by reading: AAPG Methods In Exploration Series, No. 8.